


A Midsummer Night's Dream

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Niall and Harry are study buddies, Niall has a secret admirer, but Harry's not really friends with the other boys, but they're cute - Freeform, everyone's cute, kind of a slow build to the relationship part, they're reading A Midsummer Night's Dream in class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 08:22:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2184645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Niall study together. A lot. But contrary to what Louis believes, that's all they do. But when someone starts leaving notes in Niall's copy of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Louis decides to play fortune teller, Niall begins to think that, maybe, he and Harry don't just study. </p><p>(Or the one where Niall and Harry are study buddies, Liam and Zayn are just there to care for Niall, and Louis might have known all along.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Midsummer Night's Dream

**Author's Note:**

> i don't really know where this came from, but i hope to god it's ok. there are a lot of things that inspired me to write this so it'd be pointless to list them all. sorry if there're any mistakes. i was too lazy to edit it... hope you enjoy it though!

Niall opens his locker on a Tuesday morning to find his copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ missing from where he set it on top of all his other books just yesterday. He glances around, wondering if Louis is playing another joke on him. He knows Niall has English first period on Tuesdays and he no doubt remembers what happened the last time he stole his textbooks.

He spots Louis coming down the hallway, head thrown back in a laugh as he talks to his friend Will.

“Oi, dickhead,” Niall says as he gets closer, “what have you done with my English book?”

Louis nods at Will and walks over to lean against the locker next to Niall’s. “Can’t say I know what you’re talking about,” Louis says with a confused smile. “You can’t find it? I watched you put it in your locker yesterday.”

Niall moves to the side as Louis shoves past him to look in his locker, giving him a look as if to say _see, it’s not there_ when he comes back from his search empty-handed.

“Well,” Louis announces, “it’s not here.”

“Wow. Thank you,” Niall says dryly.

“What’s wrong?” Zayn asks as he comes up, leaning against Louis.

Niall stops to look at them, all huddled together in the middle of the hallway, before he answers, “My copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ is missing and I have English–” he glances at his phone to check the time, “right now,” he says.

“Hey, mate, no worries. You can borrow mine,” Zayn says as he takes his rucksack off his shoulder. He rifles around for a bit before coming up with his battered copy of the book.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Niall says as he throws his arms around Zayn’s neck briefly, “Mrs Davis was gonna kill me if I didn’t show up with my book.” And with that he’s running off down the hall towards his English classroom.

He skids to a stop when he reaches his desk and sighs loudly once he realises he’s still got a few minutes before Mrs Davis shows up. A laugh from behind him makes Niall turn around in his seat.

“Someone was excited to get to English,” Liam says with a smile.

“More like someone was scared out of their mind because their book was missing,” Niall says. “Someone nicked my book from my locker,” he explains when he sees Liam’s head tilt to the side in questioning. “I had to borrow Zayn’s.”

Liam nods and asks, “So you think someone stole it, then?”

“Well I know for a fact I put it in my locker at the end of school yesterday. Lou watched me do it, too. No reason is shouldn’t’ve been there when I came in today. So, yeah, I reckon someone stole it,” Niall huffs.

Liam just shakes his head and turns away from Niall as Mrs Davis walks in the room.

“Okay, everyone, let me see your books,” she says in that voice of hers that annoys Niall to no end. The class holds up their books and Niall thinks these book checks are ridiculous but he silently thanks Zayn again for lending him his copy.

-

Fifty-five minutes later and Niall is on his way to his locker to pick up his books for his next class when he runs into Harry. “Hey, mate, I haven’t seen you all day,” he says as he grabs his shoulders to steady himself because he physically _ran into him_.

Harry laughs and says, “It’s only been one period, Niall,” but he looks happy to see him.

“We still on for tonight?” Niall asks him. They’ve been study buddies for a while now and have grown pretty close. Harry’s been helping Niall with his English and biology while Niall’s been helping Harry with his maths and Spanish.

“Yeah, course,” he says and there’s that smile of his again. “Wouldn’t miss it,” he jokes. Then he looks back over his shoulder with a nervous laugh and says, “I’ve gotta get going now, though. See you tonight.” He scampers down the hall and Niall only thinks it’s a bit weird for a second before he tells himself _it’s Harry_.

He’s just remembering that he needs to give Zayn back his book and find himself a new one when something falls out of his locker and lands on his foot. He bends down to pick it up and realises it’s his copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. For the second time today, he looks around in confusion, wondering where the book had disappeared to and how it had magically been returned. Niall decides not to dwell on it though because it’s his book and it’s back in his possession.

-

Lunch rolls around slowly and Niall’s convinced himself he’s about to die when the bell finally rings. He jumps out of his seat before the teacher has officially told them they can leave because _apparently_ the bell isn’t enough of a signal. He meets his friends in their usual spot – an outside table right next to the sports field – and literally falls into his seat.

“Fuck, Niall, are you okay?” Zayn asks from where he’s perched next to Liam on top of the table.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired s’all.” He closes his eyes and maybe tries to sleep a little but he knows he should read the assignment for his English class. So he opens his book to the page he left off on, amazed that the thief that stole his book hadn’t moved his ripped post-it note he uses as a bookmark. He’s a little bit into the first scene of the first act and thinking about how he really doesn’t want to be reading this play when he sees some writing in the margin that he definitely did not put there. It’s right next to the line _I am beloved of beauteous Hermia_ and the words say _Hermia loves him . . . a lot like I love you_. Niall gapes at the words as he feels a blush creep up his neck.

“Oi, Niall?” he hears Liam call but he doesn’t answer, just wonders who the _fuck_ stole his book and why they’re writing him notes. He picks up his pen and writes his own sentence next to the message from the thief. _Who are you?_

“Ni?” Liam calls again and this time Niall looks up at him. “What’s wrong? You’ve been staring at that book so hard Louis joked he thought it was gonna catch on fire,” he says it like he’s joking too, but his face is serious. “Seriously, what’s up?”

“I, um, I- nothing.” He’s spluttering, he knows he is, but he can’t help it. He’s so caught off guard by these words written in his book and he doesn’t know what to do. He opens his mouth to say something else but nothing comes out.

“You wanna know what I think is up with our little Nialler here?” Louis pipes up from where he’s lying in the grass by Niall’s feet.

Niall has a feeling he really doesn’t want to know what Louis thinks is up, but he thinks he also has no choice. Louis’ never really held back on these kinds of things.

“It’s that Harry bloke is what it is,” Louis says matter-of-factly and Niall chokes on air.

“Harry?” he asks incredulously. “You mean the Harry that I study with?”

“Mhmm.” Louis nods and continues. “I think you two like each other.” Niall shoots him a glare and he says, “Actually, scratch that. I think you two are _going_ to like each other. Let me explain,” he starts as Niall rolls his eyes so hard he thinks they might fall out of his head. “You two are going to be studying, quizzing each other on whatever shitty subject you chose for the night, and then your hands are gonna brush. Just lightly, nothing big. But you’ll look at each other and choose to ignore it because, hey, it’s not that big of a deal, right? But then it happens again. And again. And again and again until one day you’re just holding hands studying like you always do and you look down and think, _fuck, when did that happen?_ And then one day you’ll be lying there going over maths formulas or some shit and then BAM! You’re snogging.”

By the time Louis finishes predicting the future, Niall is actually laughing. Laughing at how ridiculous it all sounds because really? Him and Harry? No.

“Th-thanks Lou,” Niall says between fits of laughter, “that was fucking grand. Thank you for predicting the future. Should I have given you my palm to read or summat? Should I pay you for your service?”

Louis glares at him and shakes his head. “I’m telling you. It’s gonna happen,” he says confidently and then, a little less sure of himself, adds, “at least something like that is gonna happen.”

And if Niall forgets about the note in his book because he’s laughing so hard, well, it’s for the better.

-

That night, Niall and Harry are lounging on Niall’s bed with their books spread out all around them when Niall goes to pick up _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Harry makes a noise that Niall passes off as one out of tiredness as he opens the book. Niall suddenly feels warm when he sees the notes in the margin. He looks at Harry and then back at his book.

“Do you have any idea whose handwriting this is?” he asks, showing the words to him. “The fucker who took my book left me a note and I’d forgotten about it, but now it’s here again and it’s bothering me. I wrote one back just to see if they’d, like, reply. Maybe not, though? I don’t know who wants to leave a bloke a note telling him they love him and then just write their name in.”

Harry looks at the page like he’s going to be sick. “I don’t know,” he says and his voice sounds tight.

“Hey, you okay?”

“I’m, um, yeah, I’m good,” Harry grits out.

“You don’t look so good, man,” Niall says gently. He shifts a little closer to Harry, maybe to comfort him, maybe to let him know he can tell Niall what’s bothering him. His hand brushes against Harry’s and he looks up into his eyes. He doesn’t look any better. “You wanna call it a night? Maybe go to sleep?” he asks. They’ve slept over at each other’s houses before, when their studying went a little later then they’d originally planned.

“Um, yeah, yeah, that sounds good.”

So Niall clears the books off the bed, making sure to keep his separated from Harry’s so as not to confuse anyone in the morning. He strips down to his boxers as Harry does the same and turns out the light. It was weird the first time they’d slept in the same bed. Harry had offered to sleep on the floor, but Niall refused to let him, saying he didn’t care and Harry would be way more comfortable in the bed. So this is how it’s been. It doesn’t bother them, hell they sleep better together than they do alone.

-

Niall wakes up the next morning with Harry pressed against his back. He rolls over to find Harry’s already awake and looking at him. “Hey, did you just wake up?”

He glances at the clock. “Been awake for bout five minutes,” Harry says.

“You should’ve woken me,” Niall says with a yawn.

“Nah, wanted to let you sleep a bit more.” He smiles at him and Niall feels their hands brush under the covers. He yawns again and pulls his hand away from Harry’s to cover his mouth. No need to breathe the smell of morning breath all over his friend’s face. “M’gonna go take a shower,” he says. “Help yourself to some breakfast or whatever. You know where everything is.” He walks into the bathroom as Harry gets up from the bed, making his way out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen.

Niall finds him fifteen minutes later fully dressed in his clothes from yesterday eating an apple. “You could’ve borrowed something,” he tells Harry, not wanting him to have to wear the same clothes two days in a row.

“I know,” Harry says around a mouthful of apple, “but I didn’t want to.”

Niall nods his head. He is a bit shorter than Harry, no doubt his pants would be a bit uncomfortable on him, but his shirts should fit him fine. “At least borrow a shirt, mate.”

“Alright.” Harry stands up and goes back to Niall’s room. He comes back not even two minutes later with a light green shirt that has a small Irish flag on the left side.

Niall laughs at him and says, “Man, I haven’t seen that shirt in years. Where’d you find it?”

“In the back of your closet. Next to your old guitar and under a bunch of sweatshirts.”

Niall laughs again and Harry settles down in the seat next to him at the breakfast bar. They eat breakfast in a comfortable silence until it’s time to leave for school. Niall walks a few steps in front of Harry so he doesn’t notice he’s got Niall’s copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ tucked into his back pocket.

-

They get to school and Niall’s rummaging through his backpack muttering “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“What’s wrong,” Harry asks nervously because he knows exactly what’s wrong, even if Niall has no clue he does.

“I could’ve sworn I put _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ in here,” Niall says as he put his bag back over his shoulder and drops his arms to his side in defeat. “I must’ve left it at home.”

Harry looks around and then says in a rushed voice, “Sorry, but, um, I have to go.” He runs off much like he did yesterday and now Niall _does_ find it weird.

“What the fuck,” he’s saying to himself as Zayn walks up to him.

“How ya doin, buddy?” he says with a clap on Niall’s back.

“I forgot my book at home,” Niall says distractedly, still staring at the place Harry had just been. “That, or someone stole it again. Anyway, I don’t have English till third period, but can I borrow your book again?” he asks and Zayn nods, says _course_. “Unless mine magically shows up like it did the last time,” he adds at the end.

“What do you mean?” Zayn asks with one brow raised.

“I _mean_ , my book was missing yesterday, right? And I borrowed yours and went to English and when I came back my book was back in my locker. But, get this,” Niall says, bringing his voice down to an overdramatic whisper. Zayn moves in closer so he can hear, but mostly just so he can humour Niall. “There was a note in it,” he says like he still can’t believe it because, well, he can’t.

“What did it say?” Zayn asks him and he tells him about it. The _a lot like I love you_. “No way,” Zayn laughs. “Who–”

“That’s exactly it!” Niall cuts him off impatiently, “I don’t know!” Niall all but yells because it’s really starting to bother him. “I don’t know who’s writing it is. I don’t know who’s in love with me! I don’t know!”

“Whoa, calm down there, Niall. I’m sure you’ll find out who it is.”

“What if I don’t want to? What if I just want it to stop?” he says desperately. But does he really want it to stop? Does he really want to give up this funny feeling he gets in his stomach when he reads the messages from this unknown person? _  
_

Zayn rolls his eyes at him as Louis and Liam finally show up. “Guess what,” Zayn says to them. Louis and Liam look at each other and then back to Zayn, shrugging in a way that says _just tell us_. “Niall’s got a secret admirer.”

Niall punches Zayn in the arm as Liam breaks out into a laugh and Louis throws an arm over his shoulders and messes up his hair.

“Aw,” Louis coos, “our little Nialler!”

“Fucking stop that, will ya?” Niall yells at him, giving Zayn another glare to show him he really wishes he hadn’t said that.

“So, you don’t know who it is?” Liam asks.

“Nope, all I’ve got are the notes they’ve left me in my book,” Niall says, resigned, and tells them the same thing he told Zayn not even two minutes ago. Talking about it still freaks him out a little bit, but his stomach feels all warm when he says the words the person wrote to him.

“Wow,” Louis mutters and then gets a glint in his eyes that kind of scares Niall. “So what did you and Harry get up to last night?” he asks, feigning innocence.

Niall gives him a pointed look but answers anyway. “Same old, same old,” he says with a shrug. “Y’know. Studying. Emphasis on the dying when it came to biology. That stuff is a bunch of shit.”

They all laugh at that, but Niall stops as soon as Louis says his next words.

“So,” he draws out the word, stretching it over a span of time that the word so really shouldn’t be stretched over. “Any hand brushing?” he asks, wiggling it eyebrows.

Niall thinks about it and his face heats up. “Um,” he says dumbly.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Louis cheers and he’s the second person Niall’s punched in the arm today. “I can predict the future,” Louis announces in a dramatic voice.

“Shut up, you cannot,” Niall says indignantly. “I have to get to class,” he mutters as he walks away.

“Say hi to your secret admirer for me if you find out who they are,” Louis calls after him and he can hear Liam and Zayn laughing.

-

It isn’t until the break between second and third period that Niall gets a chance to stop at his locker. He isn’t expecting to have a repeat of yesterday – his copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ falling at his feet again – but that’s exactly what happens. He almost laughs at how ridiculous this is getting, but bends down to pick up the book instead. He flips to the page the note from the stranger was on, finding it easily because he had dog-eared it while he walked home yesterday. He’s just about to see if there’s an answer to the question he asked when Liam comes up to him.

“Ready for English?” he asks as he puts a hand on Niall’s back. “Oh,” he says before Niall can answer. “Is there a note from the secret lover?”

Niall hasn’t gotten around to looking yet so he just rolls his eyes and holds the book out for Liam to see.

“Who are you,” he reads.

“What?”

“You wrote that, obviously. It’s sloppy as fuck.” Niall glares at him. “But then whoever this is replied.” Niall snatches the book out of Liam’s hands as Liam says, “Look.”

And he does. He looks. And he reads the note and it fucking says _you know me better than you think you do_.

“What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean?” he yells because really? _What the fuck?_

“Beats me, man,” Liam says, “but it looks like you know the kid.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t really help,” Niall says miserably. He doesn’t know why he’s getting so worked up about this. “I know a lot of people. This school is fucking huge.”

Liam just rubs his hand up Niall’s back and steers him toward their English classroom.

-

It’s Wednesday night and this time Niall and Harry are at Harry’s house. They’re lying on the floor, both spread-eagled and looking at the ceiling. They finished studying a while ago and they watched a film, but now they’re too exhausted to move.

“I have a secret admirer,” Niall says after a while.

“What?” Harry asks, turning on his side to look at him.

“A secret admirer,” he repeats. “They’re leaving me little love notes in the margin of my book. It keeps disappearing and then it’ll suddenly reappear in my locker during the day. They told me they love me,” he says softly, like it’s a secret. And, really, it is to him. “Wish I knew who it was so I could see if I loved ‘em back, y’know?”

Harry just coughs and Niall turns on his side too. He stares into his eyes for a while, wondering what he’s thinking about, before he looks down and notices they’re holding hands, fingers wrapped around each other’s. _When did that happen?_ he thinks and then _fuck_. Because what Louis said would happen is happening. He doesn’t move his hand, though maybe he should. Instead he turns back onto his back, bringing their joined hands to rest on his chest. He breathes in deeply and thinks that he could just fall asleep like this.

Apparently, though, Harry has other plans. “You wanna move to the bed?” he asks quietly, like he doesn’t want to disturb him.

“Yeah, sure,” Niall says around a yawn. He gets up, pulling Harry with him, and they get in bed. Both of them had rid themselves of their pants earlier with complaints of how it was too hot in Harry’s room, always too hot.

Niall curls into himself, holding Harry’s hand to his chest still, and Harry wraps around him. They fall asleep like that and wake up in the same position the next morning.

-

Lunch rolls around on Thursday and Niall finds himself excited as he walks to his locker. _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ had been missing this morning and Niall was sure it would be in his locker now. He had replied to the previous note with a _give me a hint_. He opens his locker and finds the book sitting there. He swears he definitely doesn’t squeal a little. Not at all.

He manages to wait to open the book until he’s sitting at their picnic table, Louis on his left and Liam and Zayn across from them.

“Well, go on then,” Louis says impatiently. “What’s it say?”

The three of them move involuntarily closer to Niall as he opens the book, scanning the page for the response.

 _Green_.

That’s all it says.

“Green?” Niall yells. “What does that mean? Do they have green eyes? Is green their favourite colour? Do they like nature? I mean, what does this _mean_?”

Louis gives a gentle smile, something in his eyes telling Niall he already knows the answer to his questions, but he just says “dunno, mate.”

“You could be right, Niall,” Liam says. “They could have green eyes.”

“Who do we know that has green eyes?” Zayn asks.

“I don’t know. Lots of people.” Niall thinks for a minute then starts to rattle off names. “Lucy, Isabella, Will, Jake, Gabby, Adam, Olivia.” Niall thinks that’s it but then he remembers and adds, “Harry,” in a voice that comes out more like a whisper.

“Harry,” Louis repeats with a smug look on his face.

“You think it’s Harry?” Liam asks Louis.

“Could be. You never know.”

“Why don’t you predict the future again and tell me if it’s Harry so I don’t make a fool of myself when I ask him,” Niall says sarcastically.

“Sorry, mate,” Louis says with a smile. “That was a onetime thing.”

Niall groans. “We held hands,” he blurts out suddenly and Louis spits out the water he was just drinking.

Liam and Zayn laugh at him while Niall hits his back harder than he meant to.

“You did?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we did.” Niall doesn’t feel like he needs to elaborate, but he does anyway. “We, uh, we were lying on the floor and I was telling him about the notes in my book and he got all quiet and I look down and there were our hands, holding onto one another. It, it was – I kinda liked it,” Niall admits with a blush and looks away from Louis who’s smiling at him like a madman. “I brought them up to my chest and just kinda laid there holding Harry’s hand until he asked if I wanted to go to sleep. I said yes and we got in bed and we spooned and I held his hand to my chest the whole night.” Niall finishes rambling, breathing heavily because god, why did he not breathe during all that?

“Who’s the big spoon?” Zayn asks with a smirk.

“Him, you idiot,” Niall says with a huff. “If I held his hand to my chest while I spooned him, his arm would’ve fucking broke.”

Liam laughs and Niall turns to look at him. He’s got a fond smile on his face as he sits there watching Niall.

“Do you like him?” Louis speaks up. His whole face is lit up and Niall never thought the fact that he held Harry’s hand could make him this happy.

“I, uh,” he starts but stops as he thinks about it. All the times they’ve laughed together and smiled their smiles that they only use when it comes to each other. All the times they’ve slept in the same bed after studying for hours on end. All the times they’ve had breakfast together the morning after. Niall thinks about the way Harry looks at him and the way they held hands. He thinks about Harry. Niall and Harry. Harry and Niall. It makes him smile thinking of them together. “Yeah,” he says finally. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“Well, then, you’ve gotta tell him,” Louis says seriously. “This is how it’s gonna go down.”

And then the four of them are planning the exact way Niall is going to tell Harry that he likes him.

-

It’s Thursday night and Niall is pacing his room while Harry lies on his bed watching him.

“Shit, Niall, what’s wrong,” Harry asks after fifteen minutes of silence.

Niall stops pacing and turns to look at him. “What’s wrong?” he repeats to himself quietly. He opens his mouth to say the things he planned to say while sitting at the picnic table with his mates, but all those words fly out of his head as Harry comes to stand in front of him.

He puts his hands on Niall’s hips and says, “Yes, what’s wrong? You can tell me. You can tell me anything.”

Niall’s heart swells at his words and he looks into Harry’s eyes. _Green_. The hint in the book had been green and Niall understands now. So instead of answering the question, all he says is “green.”

And then Harry’s kissing him.

Okay, he hadn’t expected that. Hoped for it, yeah, but he hadn’t expected it.

He kisses him back and they’re a jumble of arms reaching and hands roaming and tongues clashing until Harry’s got Niall pinned to the bed underneath him.

“It _was_ you,” Niall says, very much breathless from that kiss.

Harry breathes out heavily before he speaks. “I,” but his voice seems to get caught in his throat, so Niall takes over.

“I am beloved of beauteous Harry,” he says, borrowing the line from _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. “And he is beloved of me,” he adds.

And Harry smiles at him so big he thinks his face might split, but before he can tell him that, Harry’s lips are on his again and Niall thinks he really fucking loves him.

“I love you,” Harry whispers against his lips.

“Back atcha, lover boy.”

And, okay, this is way better than that stupid plan Louis came up with.

 


End file.
